A Second Chance on the Diamond: How Lee County’s Tech-Forward Safety Plan is Saving Lives

LEE COUNTY, FL – December 29, 2025 – For 64-year-old Keenan Brown, November 2024 started like any other day at the seniors' baseball tournament—the familiar crack of the bat, the camaraderie, the Florida sun. It nearly ended in tragedy. Without warning, Brown collapsed on the field at the Lee Health Sports Complex, a victim of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA).

What happened next was not a miracle, but the result of foresight, training, and technology. Security Supervisor Tony Nazarro rushed to Brown's side, but not empty-handed. He retrieved a publicly mounted Avive Connect AED, an automated external defibrillator. Following the device’s clear, calm instructions, Nazarro delivered two life-saving electrical shocks to Brown's heart.

One year later, Keenan Brown was not just a survivor; he was back on the same field, playing in the same tournament. His story is a powerful human testament to a much larger narrative: how a strategic investment in connected, accessible medical technology is creating a robust safety net and rewriting the odds for cardiac arrest victims in Lee County.

A County's Proactive Safety Net

Keenan Brown’s survival was no accident. It was the direct outcome of a deliberate public safety initiative by Lee County officials. Recognizing the critical gap between the onset of cardiac arrest and the arrival of paramedics, the county has systematically deployed 258 Avive Connect AEDs in its buildings and high-traffic public spaces.

These devices are strategically positioned for maximum impact. Seventy-three units are located in Parks & Recreation facilities alone, from administrative offices to community libraries and even solid waste and water treatment plants. Key outdoor locations like Buckingham Park, Lakes Park, and Three Oaks Park feature the devices in special climate-controlled cabinets, which also contain Stop the Bleed kits, ensuring readiness in any weather.

This network represents a fundamental shift from a reactive to a proactive emergency response model. By placing these tools within reach of bystanders, the county empowers ordinary citizens to become first responders in the most critical moments. The program acknowledges a stark reality: in cases of cardiac arrest, the first few minutes are the most important, and an ambulance is often too far away to make the ultimate difference.

The Technology Behind the Second Chance

At the heart of Lee County’s program is the Avive Connect AED, a device that represents a leap forward in defibrillation technology. Unlike older models, which often require manual checks and offer limited feedback, Avive’s system is built for the digital age. It is the first and only AED approved by the FDA to feature integrated cellular, Wi-Fi, and GPS connectivity.

This connectivity powers two groundbreaking features. The first is REALConnect™, a remote management platform that allows county officials to monitor the entire fleet of 258 devices from a central dashboard. The system automatically performs daily health checks on each AED's battery and pad status, sending alerts via text or email if a unit needs maintenance. This eliminates the labor-intensive and often fallible process of manual inspections, ensuring every device is ready to be deployed at a moment's notice.

The second, and perhaps most revolutionary feature, is QuickRescue™. When an Avive AED is used, it doesn’t just guide the rescuer; it automatically communicates with the 911 dispatch center through the RapidSOS platform. The device transmits its precise GPS location and real-time incident data—including the event timeline and whether a shock was delivered—directly to emergency telecommunicators. This gives incoming EMS crews invaluable situational awareness before they even arrive on scene, allowing for a more prepared and efficient response.

For the person using the device, the experience is designed to be as simple and stress-free as possible. The rescuer who saved Keenan Brown praised the device for its user-friendliness, noting that it “talked to you” and provided clear, step-by-step guidance. Weighing just 2.1 pounds, the compact unit offers both audio and visual instructions, a metronome for CPR pacing, and a single set of universal pads that work for both adults and children, further simplifying a high-stakes situation.

The Race Against Time: Confronting Sudden Cardiac Arrest

The urgency behind initiatives like Lee County’s is rooted in the brutal statistics of sudden cardiac arrest. Each year, over 350,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur in the United States, and the outcome is grim, with a fatality rate hovering around 90%.

Survival is a race against the clock. For every minute that passes without defibrillation, a victim’s chance of survival drops by 7-10%. While bystander CPR is crucial and can double or even triple survival rates, the definitive treatment for the most common form of SCA is an electrical shock from a defibrillator. When an AED is applied within the first three to four minutes of collapse, survival rates can soar to 60% or higher. In sports-related cardiac arrests, studies have shown that 89% of athletes survive when an on-site AED is used.

Despite this, bystander AED use remains tragically low, often because people don’t know where to find one or are hesitant to use it. Lee County’s visible, accessible, and easy-to-use devices directly combat this challenge, turning a statistic into a story of survival.

The Future of Community Response: The '4 Minute' Model

Lee County's success is part of a growing national movement to rethink community-based emergency response. Avive is at the forefront of this with its '4 Minute Community™' Program, an ambitious model being adopted in pioneering communities like Forsyth County and Sandy Springs, Georgia.

The program’s goal is to ensure a lifesaving shock can be delivered anywhere in a community within four minutes of a 911 call. It uses historical SCA data to strategically place AEDs not just in public buildings, but in residential neighborhoods and even private homes of trained volunteers. When a 911 call for a suspected cardiac arrest comes in, dispatchers can use the system to locate and alert nearby citizen responders, guiding them to the victim's location with an AED in hand, often arriving minutes before professional help.

This model creates a multi-layered web of protection, activating a 'CARE' (Cardiac Arrest Rapid Engagement) team of neighbors ready to help neighbors. It transforms the concept of public access defibrillation into a truly integrated community health network. For places like Lee County, which have already laid the groundwork with a robust public AED program, expanding into a residential '4 Minute Community' model represents the next logical step in their mission to save more lives like Keenan Brown's.